Yes!, #2 on potty and controlling emotions

Now Mr. A says "Yes" quite often. I'm also teaching him not to hit his sister and brother and being kind to them. He really have 2 sibling who are crazy about him. Just yesterday, W shared a muffin with Mr. A. It was very sweet. After W fed A a few bites, A totally went to help the muffin himself, picking bites just like his bro.

Mr. A have a friend name "Audrey" and he can Audrey is my friend pretty clearly. Of course, his brother always gets him to say "girlfriend". ;)

As far as sleeping goes, A is still waking up, normally around 1:30-2:00 in the morning, then stays up for 2 hours before sleeping again so that has made daddy and mommy very tired. I have been falling asleep before 8pm quite a few nights. Thank God it's the holidays and daddy is home for the break.He's been more or less shifted to afternoon nap but they are fairly short, usually about an 1hour to a max of 1.5 hours.

We all think Mr. A is quite the gymnast; he has been doing splitz and he loves to hang on our trampoline bar.

One thing funny about Mr A is when daddy was picking him up from the nursery, he dropped everything and ran toward daddy. Then before he got to the door,he pointed to his sippy cup and coat. He remembered his "survival gear" aka sippy cup. Ha-ha!

Mr.A has also just started successfully goes #2 in the toilet. He actually says "poop" and makes his face so the signals are very clear. Then I sit him on the toilet with him, and when he is done, he says, "done" so that has been pretty easy. He actually said "poop" a few months before but seems always after the fact. Now he's starting to become more aware and says it before he goes. 

Yesterday, we have some friends over. While we were eating, Mr. A wanted to take out a hard play sword and I told him "no". Then he looked down, mouth curving down like he is really upset and going to cry, then he started opening his mouth and actively breathed in and out for like at least a whole minute. The whole time he was looking down with mouth pouting.  We all looked at him in amazement. Daddy says it looks he's about to boil over but actively trying to control his emotion. Our friend said, Mr A probably knows there's company over, and want to show honor to our family by not throwing a fit and controlling himself.  We all remarked that not even that many adults can do what A just did, let a lone a 18 months old! That was the first time he's done something like this,esp. with the breathing. Oh, I wished I could have captured it all on the video. Priceless!

First illness for Mr. A

Just this past week, Mr. A had I think is mostly a cold. I think he got it from his sister J. Heck, I was even really sick for a day, the kind I couldn't get up for anything. So I just slept and took some medicine.

Anyway, back to Mr. A. He ran a fever, for a day or two, and then was just mostly lethargic for the next couple days. He wanted to be held a lot, like almost the whole day. But sometimes, for no apparent reason, he'll push you away and scream with all his might for like 5 minutes. If you try to hold him or even approach him, he gets even more mad, hits you and pushes you. Then after some time, we try again and he wants to be held again. So this will go on for many times in day. Of course, for naps, he won't take one unless daddy or I are sleeping with him. He slept with us in the night. Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep. During his illness, he really did not want his sibling, J or W and gets mad even if they look at him or stands too close. Thankfully, he's getting better and more back to his old self. He's really been sweet with me, holding me and giving me those cheek touches and loving to held.

It has been a really trying year with Mr. A. The good news is it is getting better. The last few days, he even took his nap at about the same time for which I'm very thankful. Not very long naps, but looks like he's transitioning to afternoon nap. Hopefully, it's the beginning of something that will stay. Now, we just have to work on that scream.

P.S His new favorite thing is sitting on our pool table and play with the balls.  Daddy says  he's also learning a little physics by playing Chinese checkers. The board is set up where the balls only can come out in one slot so Mr A pushes the stream of balls in the slots and out they come, one at a time.

From us to you

Wishing you a most magical holiday season.

With love and wishes for peace and much joy, from all of us to all of you.

First major win for J

J won the grand prize at our chiropractor holiday give-a-way. It's a Kindle Fire.

She said she hoped and prayed, hoped and prayed. This is really just in time for Christmas as her itouch unexpectedly broke. So happy for you, J!!

No!

A's new word, "Noooo!" He understands it, uses it correctly and often. I thought that was suppose to start at 2.

Sweet kisses

At the very start of 18month, A started giving sweet lip kisses. Can you believe it? It happened all of sudden, not exactly sure of the reason. That day, the older kids were away, so it was just A and me. We were sitting on the couch, relaxing, when Mr. A, quite suddenly, looked at me sweetly and with a big mischievous smile on his face, leaned over, with his mouth open, came to me and gave me a big kiss on the lip with no prompting whatsoever from me. Usually, even when we ask for kisses, Mr. A's response is either "ummm" meaning no or if we pretend to cry and be upset, the most he'll do is put his cheek next to ours or give you a hug. So it was a HUGE thing for him to do what he did.

After that first open mouth kiss, I had to teach him to do a proper kiss - close his mouth and put his lips together. Then he did it many times, very excited every time, like he just learned something new. We'd all clap excitedly after he came to kiss us with Mr.A clapping the happiest and just grinning from ear to ear. He kissed everyone in the family for THAT day. It was a very heart warming and sweet day.

Next day, he was back to his old self. No kisses, just cheek touches. :( But this morning, he kind of started again, after some initial reluctance.

I'm sure there's more to come. Love those sweet baby kisses!!!